What's in store for 2021?
2020 was a tough year for the GKA. Travel bans, location closures and the inevitable cancelling of many events left us all feeling a bit stressed. But we're proud to say that despite the many challenges of last year, we had some incredible successes and we're able to make a lot of cool things happen.
Read on for our biggest wins of 2020 as well as our anticipated 2021 tour schedule.
2020 Recap
In 2020, we produced three events with over €60.000 in prize money.
We ran 1 event per discipline:
Kitesurf in Cabo Verde
Freestyle in Ilha do Guajiru, Brazil
and the first-ever event in the Hydrofoil Freestyle discipline in Fortaleza, Brazil
No official 2020 World Champions were crowned however a huge congratulations goes out to James Carew, Ines Correia, Fred Hope, Maxime Chabloz and Mikaili Sol for taking home the top spots!
We also produced the first-ever Distance Battle 2020 which was an online event in the disciplines of Twintip Freestyle and Strapless Freestyle. The event was broadcast over 6 hour-long live shows from our GKA Studio.
Delay in producing more competitions have left us hungry for more and we're planning on hitting the ground running this season.
Huge congrats to Maxime Chabloz for taking home the top spot at the twintip freestyle competition in Brazil.
2021 Tour Schedule
We're ready to get 2021 up and running! However, we must remain patient, flexible and able to pivot as rules and regulations continue to change. We anticipate running the following events however we appreciate your understanding as we work to provide final confirmation in what will inevitably be the weeks leading up to each event. It is our goal to provide a safe competition environment for our athletes and staff and we will work within the parameters defined by each hosting country and regulatory body.
Kitesurf
March 23-28 in Dakhla, Morocco (TBC)
July 17-21 in Gran Canaria, Spain (TBC)
August 17-22 in Sylt, Germany
September 6-11 in Hvide Sande, Denmark
September 18-26 in Bel Ombre, Mauritius
October 24-31 in Ceara, Brazil (TBC)
Freestyle
June 22-27 in Tarifa, Spain (TBC)
July 23-28 in Fuerteventura, Spain
August 5-10 in Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka (TBC)
September 18-26 in Bel Ombre, Mauritius
October 5-10 in Diego Suarez, Madagascar (TBC)
October 24-31 in Ceara, Brazil (TBC)
November 23-27 in Neom, Saudi Arabia
Hydrofoil Freesyle (TBC)
October 17-21 in Fortaleza, Brazil
Youth Freestyle (all TBC)
April 1-5 in El Gouna, Egypt
April 15-18 in Saint-Pierre La-Mer, France
May 7-10 in Sicily, Italy
Make sure you check back often for tour updates on our website. Cheers to a great year!
*If we've learned anything in 2020, it's the need to be flexible. Nothing is set in stone and we appreciate your flexibility as rules, formats and events need to be updated.